Resilient tire.



W'. M. HEIM.

RESILIBNT-TIRE. APPLIGATYON FILED APR. Z1, 1914.

'Patented Anm1 1914 A TTOH/VEYS nun-a mun-Luna. ummm n c.

UNITED STATESY OFFICE.

WILLIAM M. HEINA, F NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR 0F TWENTY-THREE AND ONE-THIRD ONE-HUNDREDTHS TO ERNEST V. DERKS AND TWENTY-THREE AND ONE- THIBDONE-HUNDREDTHS TO EDWARD KAMMLER, BOTH OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ANDTWENTY-THREE AND ONE-THIRD ONE-HUNDREDTHS TO AUGUST R. SOUTH- WORTH, OFWESTWOOD, NEW JERSEY.

RESILIENT TIRE.

T0 all whom it may concern Be itA known that I, WILLIAM M. Huma, acitizen of the United States, and a resident of the city of New York,borough of Manhattan, in-the county and State of New- York, haveinvented a new and Improved Resilient Tire, of which the following 1s afull, clear, and exact description. This invention relates to resilientWheels and has particular reference lto resilient tires.

Among the objects of this invention is to provide a resilient tire for avehicle Wheel, the same simulating in size, Weight, ap-

pear-ance and utility, the standard orms of 'pneumatic tires of suchwheels.

A further object of the invention, however, is to provide a resilienttire of such a character that in addition to the above features it willbe strong andhence more reliablein use than the usual pneumatic tires.

More specifically stated, this invention comprises a tire construction,having em`- bedded in itsptread portion, or formed Within it in anysuitable way, a continuous metallic ring or rim which is or may bepractically non-elastic and of circular arc shape in cross section,serving to sustain the weight of thc load and'prevent serious dam` ageto the fiexible, portions of the struc.- ture.

The foregoing and other objects of the invention will hereinafter' bemore fully described and claimed and illustratedin the drawings forminga part of this specification in which like characters of referenceindicate corresponding parts in both the views, and in which- Figure lis a vertical transverse section of a tire embodying the principalfeatures of this invention, the same being shown connected 'to a wheelrim of conventional design; Fig. 2 is a similar view of the tire initsnormal form or before being appliedl to the wheel rim. Fig. 3 is adetail view indicating one of the many forms of rims which may he usedin carrying out the invention; and Fig. l. is a view of the same invassembled position and indicating its relation to the felly.

The several parts of the device may be Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed April 21, 1914.

teri al.

Patented Aug. 4, 1914. Serial No. l833,381.

made of any suitable materials, and the relative sizes and proportions,as Well as thegeneral design of the mechanism, may be varied to aconsiderable extent Without departing from the spirt of the inventionhereinafter more fully set forth and specifically claimed.

l Referring more particularly to the drawings, I show, by way ofillustration of one means for carrying out this invention but withoutunnecessarily restrictin the invention, a wh eel rim R of any suitaleform and having, as an illustration of tire securing means, a pair ofoutwardly projecting side ianges r.

My improved tire, as above premised, has the appearance, as to size landform, of a common straight side or clencher pneumatic tire, and isadapted therefore to be detachably' secured upon the rim R as abovedescribed from which it may be readily removed for any desired purpose.

My tire construction comprises a comparatively thick tread portion l0comprising a mass 1l of fabric, canvas'or any other suitable tough,flexible 'but non-elastic ma- This mass of non-elastic material Xtendstransversely of the tread of the tire from aboutv the point a on oneside to a similarpoint on the other side. The body of the tread iscomposed preferably of live iexible rubber of good qualitv, the rubberbeing impregnated thorou ly in and through the mass of reinforcement 11.This mass may extend radially outwardly as far as desiredl toward theouter surface of the tread, depending upon the character of thereinforcement. lt, therefore, receives and sustains the direct wear uponthe roadwav.

At l2 I show a rigid metallic rim of circular form and continuous inextent around and spaced from the wheel rim R. As indicated, the rim orring l2 is substantiallv semicircular in cross section. but beingpreferably reduced in thickness at or toward its side edges 12. Thetread portion of the tire is preferably cemented or otherwise securelyfastened to the outer surface of the ring l2, and as shown, thereinforcement mass l1 extends over the edges 12 of said ring andinvvardly therefrom. That is to say, the ends or edges a, a of thereinforcement extend radiailyinwardly beyond the edges of the metalrii'ig and hence there is no distortion or displacement of any part ofthe tread with respect to the ring because or crotch or elasticity. A,Ati 13 I show securing or anchorage inembers for direct cooperation withthe wheel rim. These anchor members, as to their form and appearance, aswell as their relation to the wheeifini, do not vary materially fromcorresponding anchor' members of the usual pneumatic tires. In otherwords, my invention does not comteinplate any particular form, size ordimensions of these anchor members since they will be made to correspondto the character of the rim to which they are to be secured and theparticular means ',for locking the same to 'the rim. Suffice it to say,however, that each of these anchors is provided with any suitable formor construction of reinforcement 14 of fabric, cordage or the like,constituting the main body .of the, member and-also it may be providedWith a strip'of metal as indicated at 15.

The same body of live rubber above referredto' as impregnating the treadreinforcement lis continued inwardly. forming at lffstrong continuouswebs of solid pure rubber.' These Webs constitute the only connectionsbetween the anchor -menibers 11 and the tread .portions of the tire, andthey extend. circi'imferentially around the wheel Without a break oropening.4 The natural 4form or ositi'onof the we s or anchor members iss .own in Fig: 9.', from'which it will be Vunderstood that the -webstend to hold the anchor members spacedat suitable distances from' eachother, and the webs tend to con-` tract or shorten radially as thereinindicated. In mounting' the tire, therefore, upon the wheel rim,- thewebs 16 are put under considerable stretch, the immediate ,effect ofwhich vis to hold the ring and tread portions of the tire in asubstantially definite relation to the wheel rim and concentrictherewith. As indicated at 1T, I may provide an inner coating or liningof any Suitable fabric or thin material serving as a finishingmeinber'covering the inner surface of the metal ring, the side edges .ofthe coatingr being extended inw'ardly toward the anchormeinberspreferably only as far as the points a, a, sofas not to'be'jsubjected to the stretching 'effectof -thewebs 16'. Since theanchor members 13 are provided with non-elastic cores' or' strengtheningstrips 15, one means lof 'mounting the same upon the rim R consists inmaking the rim split transversely vwhereby one of the ends thereof maybe drawn within the other, as shown in'Fig. 3, so as to contract the rimas a whole Sulliciently to allow the improved tire'to slip readily overthe rim and between the flanges .1'. After the tire is put in place, theends of the rim R are caused to come into normal .filnittingT position.shown in Fig. 4. where the)y are locked by mea-...s of a plate l whichslips over a plurality of studsl 'zw' secured to the rim ends. Saidstuds cooperate with the plate P to hold the rim ends in properposition, and the studs cooperate with the felly l` to prevent the platefrom displacementand also to prevent the creeping of the rim and tirecircumfercntially of the felly.

Yv'ith the tire construction as herein set forth and connected to thewheel by any suitable means and with the anchor members 123 locked so asnot to become displaced outwardly from the rim R, the operation of thetire may be briefly summarized as follows: The load being supporteddircctl)y upon the hub and wheel rim R in the usual manner,

and the improved tire construction inclnd` Vground, the load ultimatelywill be supported by the flexible webs 1G. vhile the direct strain willbe between the wheel rim R and the upper portion of the tirel tread, yetthe strain will be distributed throughout practically the wholecircumference of the tire. The strain at the top of the wheel will besubstantially radial, while at the sides of the wheel the strains willbe downward or tan` -in Fig. 1 indicate the tendency of the rim t to putthe webs 1G nnder'stretch at the top of the wheel. under maximum strain.

Buckling of this tire, due to skidding or the li ze, is practicallylimpossible for` two important reasons; first, buckling is directly`resisted by the tensile strength of the web 1.(3 on the opposite side of4the tire from the obstacle being encountered by the tire. In otherwords, should the vehicle skid in such a direction as to cause anobstacle to act in the direction of the arrow c, tending to throw thetread portion of the tire toward the right in Fig. 1, the web 16 on theright hand side would be put under an unusual'strain, and the webs areso designed or constructed that the strength thereof will be exerted toresist all of such strain in a practical manner. Secondly, an obstacle,such as a curbstone or the like, struck by a skidding wheel having ausual form of pneumatic tire, will cause the buckling of such tirelocally, that is to say, a very short portion of the circumference of'the tire will be called upon to resist the'ctfcct of such obstacle. Inthis improved tire, however, the strong rigid ring 12 will distributethroughout practically the whole of the tire the shock or unusual strainto which the wheel may be thus subjected in practice,

and hence the danger of stripping the tire troni the wheel will bepractically eliminated. Furtlierniore7 it will be observed that sincethis tire is not pneumatic in the sense that it is not inilatahle, thereis never any reason to stop Ator such repairs as are incident. to leaks,blowouts or the like. Because ot the Jeculiar construction of the t1'lad, it is a le to withstand such cuts, punctures, or the like, as woulddisable a lmelunatic tire, and, furthermore, a puncture ot either weblli would not seriously impair the usefulness of the device.

By the illustrated construction of tire I prodnce a tire whose crownportion or tread 1s reinforced so as to prevent its extension orincrease in length transversely. lt. will be noticed also that the freeportions or ends of the side wings are prevented from radial expansionor outward movement, and the said side wings between their free ends andthe tread reinforcing means are oi elastic rnbber. In addition` lprovide within the tire a member in the nature of a spreader which issubstantially rigid and which spreads the crown portion ot the tire tosuch extent relatively to the free ends ot the pings. that the elasticportions of the wines will be stretched and will incline inwardly fromthe sides oi' said sin'eadinev member when applied to a rim. low then itwill ne noticed that in adjusting.;` the tire troni the expandedposition shown in Fig. 2 to the position shown in Fig'. l, in which itis lined to the riin, the Vtree ends of the wings are brought towardeach other and since {heSe l'ree ends cannoty be expanded out-v Wgifdvland the tread of' the tire by reason el ts reintoreenient cannot beextended, the movement ot' the tree ends ot' the wings toward each otherputs the side wings under tension and by reason ot' the spreader causessaid wings to incline inwardly toward their tree ends so that the tirewill operate ad vantageously when applied to a rim, as hereinbeiore morefully described.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secureby Let ters Patent A tire substantially as herein described. having acrown portion and side portions or wings, the latter beinir normallyseparated from each other at tV eir inner ends and movable at such endstoward each other, means in the crown portion for preventing theextension thereof, means at the free ends ot the side portions or wingsfor preventing the same from radial outward expansion, the side portionsor wings between the nieans for preventing radial expansion and the saidmeans for preventing extension being ot' elastic rubber, and the t'recportions ot' the ends of the wings being spread sub- .stantially apartprior to the application of the tire te a rim, and a. substantiallyrigid member i'or spreading the crown portion ot the tire to such extentrelatively to the frei ends of the wings that the elastic portions otthe wings will be stretched and inclined inwardly troni the sides ot'said spreading,- member when applied to a rim, the side portions orwings being thus put under tension, as and ior the purpose set forth.

ln testimony whereof I have signed my naine to this speciiication in thepresence of trio silla-milling witnesses,

VV'IL'IM M. HEINA.

YWitnesses:

(l1/1o. li. Bastian. lnnar l). lloiaamrs,

Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C.

